World Nationals at Marshalltown Speedway

I was hoping for an IMCA Modified Nationals event at Knoxville, but I will settle for Marshalltown instead! Toby Kruse announced a couple of weeks ago that Marshalltown Speedway will be hosting an event labeled the 7th Annual World Nationals (formerly known as the Havoc on the Highbanks) and putting up $10,000 to win! To compare how big that number is, the Knoxville Harris Clash pays $2,000 to win, the sports “super bowl”, the Boone Super Nationals has a base winning payout of $2,000, the catch is the contingency money ($100 per sanctioned event competed in capped at 50 events) with the potential to win up to $7,000. Richie Gustin won $5,700 in 2011 and Jeff Taylor won $2,700 in 2012. So for a guaranteed $10,000 to win race in the IMCA Modified ranks is a big deal, and Marshalltown is a perfect site for it that will offer close short track racing.

The one rule that sticks out for this event is that teams with a Crate motor are ineligible to compete. From Marshalltown Speedway Press Release:
The 2013 “World Nationals” will be a Hawkeye Dirt Tour event. It is with great pride that Marshalltown Speedway is able to partner with PBM Performance/Erson Cam/World Products to become the title sponsor of this high profile event. With this new sponsorship package in place, during the 2013 “World Nationals”, the IMCA Modifieds will be running built motors only, this in appreciation for the support of local machine shops and high performance engine builders.

This is a big step for IMCA Modified racing. As the costs of racing continue to increase, the purses have held steady. IMCA historically hasn’t wanted to have big payouts thinking that would control the cost of racing and help the competitive balance. But in recent years teams have been building more expensive engines in the Modified class, and the days of teams claiming an engine seem to be gone. So if the environment is such that teams can spend more money, it makes sense that we have an upper tier event that pays more money. The car count will be interesting to see how it pans out with probably half the teams in Iowa racing a crate, but I have a feeling some of those teams will go find an engine somewhere for this event. Just to clarify, the crate engines will be allowed in the other classes that compete that weekend.

With Carl Moyer (Karl Chevrolet) being such a large marketing partner and presence for local IMCA dirt track racing in Iowa and a proponent of the crate engine program, I’m a little surprised about the crate rule. But I’m guessing there is enough support from PBM Performance/Erson and Cam/World Products to make all this happen.

I’m excited for this event and think it’s a great idea by promoter Toby Kruse to put on something like this. Toby tells me there will be more details announced in the coming weeks about this event, including how much the Modified race will pay for second, third, and so forth.